Capping mechanism



Oct. 28, 1941. R, STEWART EIAL I 2,260,349

(lAPPI NG MECHANISM File d March 4', 1939 I 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 28, 1941.

R. J. STEWART EIAL 2,260,349

CAPPING MECHANISM Filed March 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 28, 1941 Robert J. Stewart and Henry H. Franz,

(1., minor; to Crown Cork & Seal Baltimore,

M, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of New York Application March 4, 1939, Serial No. 259,897

16 Claims.

The present invention relates to capping mechanisms.

The. capping heads used with some types of containers, and particularly milk bottles, comprise a capping chamber, a cap supply chamber,

a and means to move the lowermost cap in the cap supply compartment to the capping chamber. The cap feeding means is ordinarily operated by reason of the vertical movement of the capping head with respect to a support. Such vertical movement of the capping head results from contact of a bottle with the capping head, either by reason of an upward movement of the bottle toward the capping head, or a downward movement of the capping head and its support toward the bottle. In either case, contact of the bottle with the capping chamber of the capping head will move the capping head upwardly with respect to its support, the cap within the capping chamber being applied to the bottle during such movement. During this same movement, the cap feeding means will be moved backwardly and into engagement with the lowermost cap'in the cap supply chamber. Subsequently, when the bottle moves away from the capping head support; or vice versa, permitting the capping head to descend in its support, this descending movement of the capping head will cause the cap feeding means to move the lowermost cap in the cap supply chamber to the' capping chamber. Obviously,

V means must be provided to delay the downward movement of the capping head until after the mouth of the bottle is substantially clear of the capping chamber, otherwise the presence of the bottle in the capping chamber would prevent a fresh cap from being placed in the latter chamber.

Capping heads of this type, that is, capping heads whereby movement of a cap from the cap supply chamber to the capping chamber is controlled by contact of a bottle with the capping head, are extremely advantageous due to the fact that it is impossible to feed an additional cap into the capping chamber 11 no bottle is presented to that chamber, since the feed of caps to the capping chamber is dependent upon the contact of a bottle with the capping head.

Heretoiore, in the use of capping heads of the above general type upon rotary machines, each capping head has been provided with a latch which engaged the capping head support to hold the capping head in raised position after the latter had been lifted by contact of a bottle there'- with. In such machines, a fixed trip was provided in the path oi movement of the capping head which trip so that the latch would be released and the capping head dropped a few moments after the bottle had moved away from the capping head. Such arrangement has been open to the disadvantage that the latches would become worn,'so that (1) they'would not hold the capping head raised for a sufllciently long period, or (2) would not engage at all. In the first instance, that is, i! the latch became partially engaged, but later dropped before the sufllciently far, the relatively heavy capping head would drop upon the mouth of the bottle, resulting in breakage of the bottle and waste of the bottle contents. In the second instance, that is, where the latch did not become engaged at all, the capping head would descend simultaneously with the movement of the bottle from the capping head, andpthe cap feeding means would be actuated while the bottle was still in contact with the capping head, resulting at least in damage to the cap being fed into the chamber. In such case, unless the failure of the latch mechanism was noticed by the operator, the next bottle presented to that capping head would have a deformed cap applied thereto.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a simple and very eflicient means to hold the capping head of a capping structure of the type described above raised ior a suitable interval after the bottle and capping head have separated, as by lowering of the bottle.

A further object of the invention is the provision 01' a capping head holding means which will be movable i'ror'n the path of a capping head which has no bottle positioned beneath the same.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following drawings wherein: v

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in vertical section, of 'a capping structure including the present invention.

Figure 2 is a top Figure 1, with Figure 3 is a plan view of the structure of portions broken away, and

view showing two capping heads,

each positioned at a diflerent point with regard to the crowning cam, the crowning heads being illustrated in vertical section and the remaining structure being illustrated in side elevation.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the numeral ll designates a supporting casting or table element which is Journalled as at Ii upon a post I2. The

post I! extends upwardly from a base l3 and the supporting casting l0 about the post I! by is adapted to be rotated any suitable means. The

bottle had descended for Closure applyin capping head 48 which forms the 2 g. supporting casting I is provided with a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced vertically extending pockets I5, each of which is adapted to receive a capping head carrier bracket or capping head support |6 of the type disclosed in our'application for Closure applying mechanism filed March 4, 1939, .Serial No. 259,898. Each carrier plate or support 16 has a capping head l1 reciprocably mounted in a vertical bore 18 thereof and a vertically reciprocable bottlesupporting platform 20 is aligned with thelower end of each capping head as shown in Figure 1.

The bottle supporting platforms 20 are adapted to have bottles positioned thereon by any suitable feeding means, and each platform has a roller 2! associated therewith. Each platform will be moved upwardly from the position shown at the right of Figure 1 to that shown at the left of Figure 1 by engagement of the corresponding roller 2| with an arcuate cam 22 which partially encircles the base l3 of the mechanism. The cam 22 may be of any form, the embodiment illustrated in the present figures being of a compensating type disclosed in our said application mechanism.

The capping heads those disclosed in Patent No. 1,956,218, for Capping heads, issued to George J. Huntley and Harry A. Rau, on April 24, 1934, in that each 11 is vertically reciprocable in a der or chamber 3|.

I1 are generally similar to support, and each capping head has a capping chamber 30 at its lower end into which cap blanks C are delivered from a cap supply chamber 3| by a pusher 32 controlled by a bell crank 33 adapted to be swung from the position indicated at the right of Figures 1 and 3 to that shown at the left of these two figures by the vertical movement of cluding the cap supply More specifically, each capping head 11 includes a throat carrier in the form of a cylinder 40 which is slidably mounted for'vertical movement in the bore l8 of carrier bracket l6, cylinder 40 being provided with vertically extending diametrically opposite keys 4| (Figure 2) to guide its vertical movement. The vertical bore 42 of cylinder 40 is restricted adjacent its lower end by an annular shoulder 43 and the extreme lower end of the bore and the cylinder the capping head H, in-

chamber 3|.

are enlarged to form the capping chamber 30.

A spindle 45 seats in the restricted portion of the bore 42, the spindle having an enlarged head 46 which normally bears upon the upper surface of shoulder '43. The lower 'end of spindle 45 is rounded and seats in a socket 41 of a plate upper part of a presser foot 49. The lower edge of the upper portion 48 of presser foot/ 49 normally rests upon a plate 50 secured in the upper portion of capping chamber 30.

A spring 52 is positioned in the upper portion of the bore 42, the upper end of the spring bearing against a block 53 which is threaded in the upper end of bore 42 and the lower end of the spring bearing on the head 46 of spindle 45. By this arrangement, the presser foot 43 is normally held inv the position shown in the right hand capping head of Figure 3.

A throat ring 53 of well known type surrounds the presser foot 49. In the present embodiment the throat ring and presser foot are of the type disclosed in the patent to George W. Booth No. "1,956,208 issued April 24,1934, for Capping machine and is designed to, mold a flexible cap blank of disc-like form about the locking ring I ber 50. It will be noted that shoulder 610 forms of a milk bottle. In accordance with the Booth patent, and as shown in Figure 3, the upper end of throat ring it bears upon a coil spring device 54 and the extreme upper edge of throat ring 53 supports the plate 54. Furthermore, plate II has pins 55 extending upwardly through apertures in the upper wall of the capping chamber 30, which pinshave a ring 56 secured to their upper ends.

A slide chamber extends horizontally from the capping chamber 30, preferably radially with respect to the supporting post 12 of the entire crowning structure, the slide chamber 60 including a closed bottom wall BI and side walls 62 each provided with a longitudinally extending slot 63. The upper wall of the slide chamber 80 opens to the lower end of the cap supply cylin The pusher block 32 moves in slide chamber 60 and is provided at its inner and upper portion with a tongue 65 which is adapted to engage the lowermost cap blank or disc C in the supply chamber 3| and move it into the crowning chamber 30. During such movement two opposite edge portions of the disc C will rest upon a ledge extending along the side walls 62 of slide chamber Win the manner described in said Huntley and Rau patent and when a disc C has been delivered to the crowning chamber 30 its edges will rest upon a horizontal shoulder 66 within said chamber, with the central portion of the disc positioned beneath and substantially in contact with the lower face of the presser foot 49 as shown in the crowning head at the right hand portion of Figure 3.

The pusher block 32 has a pin 10 extending through the same and each outer end of this pin has a link 1| secured thereto, the opposite ends of the links being pivotally connected to the ex trem'e lower ends of a vertically extending and relatively long arm 12 of the bell crank 33. Each bell crank 33 is pivoted to one end of a pin 13 which extends through the carrier or support I and the other and short arm 14 of bell crank 33 carries a roller 15 positioned between laterally extending and spaced lugs 16 on the adjacent outer wall of the can supply cylinder 3|.

In the normal operation of the capping structure of the present invention, that is, its operation when a bottle is positioned upon the bottle supporting platform 20 arranged beneath a capping head 11, the rotation of the supporting casting I0 and the bottle supporting platform 20 about the post [2 will cause the platform 20 and bottle B to be moved upwardly by reason of the engagement of the roller 2| of the platform 20 with the incline 22a of platform lifting cam 22 as shown in Figure 3. It will be understood that at the time a bottle is positioned upon the platform 20, the platform will be at a slightly lower position than that indicated at the right of Figure 3 so that the lip of the bottle will be below the lowermost portion of the capping chamber 30. Also, at this time, as indicated at the right hand portion of Figure 3, the capping head 44 will be in its lowermost position with respect to the bore 18 of carrier Hi, the entire capping head, including the slide chamber 60 and the supply chamber 3|, being supported by the vertically extending leg 12 of bell crank 33, pusher 32 being in the inward position shown in the righthand portion of Figure 3 so that its inner face 320 contacts with a shoulder Gla projecting upwardly fromthe lower wall SI of the slide chainthe inner end of the slide chamber 60 and terminates slightly below the upper wall of the chamber so that a cap C may be moved above the upper edge of the shoulder by the pusher 82.

As theroller 21 of the bottle platform 28 moves upwardly upon the incline 22a of cam 22, the 5 mouth of the bottle will be moved upwardly into the capping chamber 88 as shown at the right hand capping head of Figure 3. Continued upward movement of the bottle platform 28 will bring the mouth of the bottle B into contact with the underside of the central portion of the cap C positioned beneath the presser foot 48. If desired. a compensating mechanism 22 such as is describel in detail in our said application entitled form cam 2| has descended a predetermined distance along the decline 22d, the roller 85 will move down a decline 88 of cam 88 so that the capping head I! may move downwardly in the bore i8 of carrier i8.

The dropping of the capping head l1 in the bore l8 of carrier I8 occasioned by the movement of roller 85 down decline 83 will cause the bell cranks 88 to beswung inwardly from the position indicated in the left hand capping head of Figure "Closure applying mechanism filed of. even date 3 to that indicated in the right hand capping herewith may be used to insure that the mouth of the bottle willbe in firm contact with the underside of the cap C and that the latter will bear firmly against the lower end of the presser foot 48 during the time that the bottle platform go roller 2| is moving over the dwell 22b of cam 22. Cam 22 includes a further incline or rise 22c past dwell 22b and when the roller 2i moves up this incline the bottle supporting platform 28 will rise to force the bottle upwardly so that the presser foot 48 will be raised as shown in connection with :he capping head at the left of Figure 3. The :ontact of the bottle B with the presser foot 48 will initially cause the entire capping head I! to e raised within the bore i8 of carrier l8 so that so he ring 56 will contact with the lower surface 8| if the carrier l6.

This upward movement of the capping head, ncluding the capping cylinder 8, cap supply hamber 8i and slide chamber 88, will cause the 35 ugs 18 fixed to the exterior wall of cap supply hamber iii to exert upward pressure upon the hort horizontal arms 14 of the bell cranks 38, nd since the pivot pin 18 of the bell cranks is iounted in the vertically fixed carrier or bracket 8, the bell cranks will swing from the position sown in the right hand capping head of Figure to the position illustrated in the left hand caplng head of the same figure. As a result, the

usher 32 will be moved outwardly along the slide iamber 80 so that its tongue 85 will be posioned behind the lowermost cap in the cap lpply chamber 8|. Continued upward movement of the bottle B ill cause the presser foot 48 to be raised in the 5 )w stationary capping head I! and against the :tion of the spring 52. During this latter upird movement the central portion of the disc C 11 be locked between the mouth of the bottle id the presser foot 49, while the edge of the p C will be molded downwardly about the )llth of the bottle by the throat ring 53 as de- .ibed in said Booth patent. At the moment that the presser foot is raised to a extreme upward position shown in the left 6 nd capping head of Figure 3, a roller 85 posined on a vertical stud 81 extending upwardly m the block 58 of the capping head will move 0 contact with the upper surface 01' a cam 88 unted for pivotal movement in a horizontal 35 he on a pin 88 secured to a disc 88 fixed to the ier end of the non-rotating central post l2.

th the rotation of the supporting casting l8 itinuing, the bottle platform roller 2! will move vnwardly along a decline 22d of cam 22 so that 73 bottle B will be moved downwardly out of the ping chamber 38. During the initial portion ;his downwardmovement of the bottle B, the

er 85 at the top of the capping head will still vn engagement with the upper surface of cam 75 head. Such movement of the bell cranks is due to the fact that the lugs 18 on the downwardly moving capping supply chamber 8! will engage the rollers 15 of the bell cranks so that the latter will be swung in a clockwise direction to move the lowermost cap blank C of the cap supply chamber into position beneath the presser foot 88.

As indicated above, the mouth of the bottle will be below the cap supporting ledge of the capping chamber 88 before roller 88 begins to move downwardly along decline 88 of cam 88 so that the inward and cap feeding movement of the pusher 82, with the cap in advance of the same. will not be obstructed.

In the event that no bottle is positioned upon a bottle supporting platform 20, that platform will be raised toward the aligned capping head I! due to engagement of its roller 2| with the cam 22, but with no bottle positioned upon the platform, the capping head will not be raised with respect to the carrier I8. Consequently, the roller 85 of the capping head will not be raised to the position indicated in connection with the left hand capping head of Figure 3 so as to move upon the top surface of cam 88. The pivotal mounting of cam 88 upon its pin 88 will enable it to swing out of the way of a roller 85 which has not been raised, the leading vertical face of the cam member 88 being bevelled as indicated at 880 in Figure 2 so that the rounded end 88a of the roller carrying pin 86 will readily brush the cam'aside. A spring connected to an arm 88 of the cam 88 has its opposite end secured to a pin 81 on the fixed plate 98. The spring 85 serves to normally hold the cam 88 in the position shown in Figure 2 but enables it to swing out of the path of an unraised roller 85.

It will be obvious that by the construction. described above, the vertical movements of the capping head will be positively controlled and without damage to containers. Also, we eliminate all possibility of a cap being distorted by reason of being moved toward the capping chamber while the mouth of a container is in the path of movement of the cap.

The phraseology employed in the specification is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a fixed support," a table member movable on said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element carried by said table member, a plurality of cam means to control vertical movement of said elements to apply a closure to a container supported on said container supporting element, one of said cam containers, a fixed element and a container tatable about said I container, means ments when no container is carried by said container supporting element.

2. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a fixed support, a table member rotatable about said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element carmember, a plurality of cam ried by said table means to control vertical movement of said elements to apply a closure toa container supported on said container .upporting element, one of said cam means being movable from the path of said elements when no container is carried by said container'supporting element.

3.-In a mechanism for applying closures to support, a table member movable'on said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element carried by said table member, a plurality of cam means successively effective to control the vertical position of said elements and thereby apply a closure to a container supported on said container supporting element, one of said cam means being movable from the path of said elements when no container is carried by said container supporting element.

4. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a'fixed support, a table member rotatable about said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element carried by said table member, a plurality of cam means successively effective to control the vertical'position of said elements and thereby apply a closure to a co tainer supported on said container supporting element, one of said cam means being movable from the path of said elements when no container is carried by said container supporting element.

5. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a fixed support, a table member rotatable about said support, a closure applying supporting element carried by said tablemember, cam means to move said container supporting element upwardly and, acting'through a container supported on said element, to also move saidclosure applying element upwardly, and cam means to control the vertical position of said closure applying ele- 'ment,,one of said cam means being movable from the path of said closure applying element when the latter is not raised by a container.

6; In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a fixed support, a table member rosupport, a closure applying element and a container supporting element carried by said table member, cam means to move said container supporting elementupwardly and, acting through a container supported on said element, to also move said closure applying element upwardly, and cam means to control the vertical position of said closure applying element, said last-named cam means being movable from the path of said cl'osure applying element when the latter is not raised by a container.

'1. Ina mechansm for applying closures to containers, a fixed support,'a carrier movable with respect to said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element mounted on and reciprocable with respect to said carrier, alplurality of members I rocation of both of said elements when a container is supported on said container supporting element so that a closure will be'applied to such to supply closures sure applying element upon such movement, at least one of said reciprocation controlling memto control recipto said clobers being movable out of the path of the corresponding element when no container is carried by said container supporting element.

8. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a fixed support, a carrier movable with respect to said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element mounted on and reciprocable with respect to said carrier, a plurality of members to control reciprocation of both of said elements when a container is supported on said container supporting element so that a closure will be applied to such container, means to'supply closures to said closure applying element upon such movement, at least one of said reciprocation controlling members being movable from the path of said elements when'no container is carried by said container supporting element.

9. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a fixed support, a carrier movable with respect to said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element mounted on and reciprocable carrier, means to move oneof said elements toward the other and, acting through a container 'supportedron said container supporting element, to move the latter element in the same direction, means to control subsequent reverse movement of said elements, a device to supply closures to said closure applying element actuated by such movements of the latter element, said closure applying element moving means being movable out of the path of the closure applying means when no container is carried by said container supporting element.. 5 10. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, a fixed support, a carrier movable with respect to said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element mounted on and reciprocable with respect to said carrier, means to move oneof said elements toward the other and, acting through a containei supported on said container supporting element to move the latter element in the same direction means to control subsequent reverse movemen' ofsaid elements, a device to supply closures ti said closure applying element actuated by sucl movements of the latter element, one of said ele ment moving means being movable from th path of the corresponding element when no con tainer is carriedvby said container supportin element. r I 11. In a mechanism. for'applyingclosures t containers, a fixed support, a ca'rriermovabl with respectto said support, a closure applyin element and a container supporting elemer mounted on and reciprocable with respect to sai carrier, means to move said container supportir element upwardly'and, acting through a cor tainer supported on the latter, to move the cl1 sure applying element in the same directio means to control downward movement of sa elements, a device to supply closures-to said 011 sure applying element actuated by such mov ment of the latter element, one of said eleme moving means being movable from the path the corresponding'element when no contain is carried by said container supporting eleme] 12. In a mechanism for applying ,clos'ures containers, a fixed support, a carrier rotate about said support, a closure applying eleme and a container supporting element mounted reciprocation with respect to said carrier, a c about said fixed support to raise said contaii supporting element and, acting through a or with respect to said tainer supported by said element, to likewise raise said container applying element. said cam controlling downward movement of said container supporting element, a second cam to control downward. movement of and closure apply ns means, and a device .to supply closuresto said closure applying element actuated by movement oi the latter element.

13. In a mechanism for app in closures to containers. a fixed support, a carrier rotatable about said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element mounted for reciprocation with respect to said carrier. a

cam about said fixed support to raise said container supporting element and, acting through a container supported by said eIement to likewise raise said container applying element, said cam controlling downward movement of said container supporting element, a second cam to control downward movement of said closure applying means when the latter has been raised, and a device to supply closures to said closure applying element actuated by movement of; the latter element, said last-named cam being movable from the path of said closure applying element downward movement of said closure applying means when the latter has been raised, and a device to supply closures to said closure applying element actuated by movement of the latter element, said last-named cam being 'plvotally mounted to be movable fronrithe path of said closure applying element when; no container is moved to the latter audit is therefore not raised.

15. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, 9, support defining a path 01' movement, carrier means, closure applying means and container supporting means mounted on said when no container is moved to the latter and it' carrier and movable together in said path, means to move said container supporting means relative to said applying means, said applying means being movable with respect to said carrier means by contact of a container upon said container supporting 'meanswith the applying means, clo- 1 sure feeding means actuated by movement of said applyingmeans relative to said carrier means, andcam meansalong said path to control reverse movement of said feeding means, said cam being movable out of said path upon contact of the unraised applying means therewith.

' 16. In a mechanism for applying closures to containers, va fixed support, a carrier movable; with respect to said support, a closure applying element and a container supporting element mounted on and vertically reciprocable with respect to said carrier, means to raise said elements with respect to said carrier when a container is supported on said container supporting element sothat a closure will be applied to such container, and a horizontally swinging member carried by said fixed support to control downward move-5 applying element. ROBERT J. STEWART. HENRY H. FRANZ.

ment or said closure 

